Author: Wes D. Gehring
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786499966
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 210
Book Description
The 1950s were a transitional period for film comedians. The artistic suppression of the McCarthy era and the advent of television often resulted in a dumbing down of motion pictures. Cartoonist-turned-director Frank Tashlin contributed a funny but cartoonish effect through his work with comedians like Jerry Lewis and Bob Hope. A new vanguard of comedians appeared without stock comic garb or make-up--fresh faces not easily pigeonholed as merely comedians, such as Tony Randall, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis. Some traditional comedians, like Charlie Chaplin, Red Skelton and Danny Kaye, continued their shtick, though with some evident tweaking. This book provides insight into a misunderstood decade of film history with an examination of the "personality comedians." The talents of Dean Martin and Bob Hope are reappraised and the "dumb blonde" stereotype, as applied to Judy Holliday and Marilyn Monroe, is deconstructed.
Seriously Funny
Author: Gerald Nachman
Publisher: Watson-Guptill Publications
ISBN: 9780823047864
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 676
Book Description
From Mel Brooks and Tommy Smothers to Mort Sahl and Lenny Bruce, Nachman tells the story of America's "satiric revolution."
Publisher: Watson-Guptill Publications
ISBN: 9780823047864
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 676
Book Description
From Mel Brooks and Tommy Smothers to Mort Sahl and Lenny Bruce, Nachman tells the story of America's "satiric revolution."
Movie Comedians of the 1950s
Author: Wes D. Gehring
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476626928
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 210
Book Description
The 1950s were a transitional period for film comedians. The artistic suppression of the McCarthy era and the advent of television often resulted in a dumbing down of motion pictures. Cartoonist-turned-director Frank Tashlin contributed a funny but cartoonish effect through his work with comedians like Jerry Lewis and Bob Hope. A new vanguard of comedians appeared without stock comic garb or make-up--fresh faces not easily pigeonholed as merely comedians, such as Tony Randall, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis. Some traditional comedians, like Charlie Chaplin, Red Skelton and Danny Kaye, continued their shtick, though with some evident tweaking. This book provides insight into a misunderstood decade of film history with an examination of the "personality comedians." The talents of Dean Martin and Bob Hope are reappraised and the "dumb blonde" stereotype, as applied to Judy Holliday and Marilyn Monroe, is deconstructed.
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476626928
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 210
Book Description
The 1950s were a transitional period for film comedians. The artistic suppression of the McCarthy era and the advent of television often resulted in a dumbing down of motion pictures. Cartoonist-turned-director Frank Tashlin contributed a funny but cartoonish effect through his work with comedians like Jerry Lewis and Bob Hope. A new vanguard of comedians appeared without stock comic garb or make-up--fresh faces not easily pigeonholed as merely comedians, such as Tony Randall, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis. Some traditional comedians, like Charlie Chaplin, Red Skelton and Danny Kaye, continued their shtick, though with some evident tweaking. This book provides insight into a misunderstood decade of film history with an examination of the "personality comedians." The talents of Dean Martin and Bob Hope are reappraised and the "dumb blonde" stereotype, as applied to Judy Holliday and Marilyn Monroe, is deconstructed.
The Women Who Made Television Funny
Author: David C. Tucker
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786429003
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 217
Book Description
Most of the bright and talented actresses who made America laugh in the 1950s are off the air today, but their pioneering Hollywood careers irrevocably changed the face of television comedy. These smart and sassy women successfully negotiated the hazards of the male-dominated workplace with class and humor, and the work they did in the 1950s is inventive still by today's standards. Unable to fall back on strong language, shock value, or racial and sexual epithets, the female sitcom stars of the 1950s entertained with pure talent and screen savvy. As they did so, they helped to lay the foundation for the development of television comedy. This book pays tribute to 10 prominent television actresses who played lead roles in popular comedy shows of the 1950s. Each chapter covers the works and personalities of one actress: Lucille Ball (I Love Lucy), Gracie Allen (The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show), Eve Arden (Our Miss Brooks), Spring Byington (December Bride), Joan Davis (I Married Joan), Anne Jeffreys (Topper), Donna Reed (The Donna Reed Show), Ann Sothern (Private Secretary and The Ann Sothern Show), Gale Storm (My Little Margie and The Gale Storm Show: Oh! Susanna), and Betty White (Life with Elizabeth). For each star, a career sketch is provided, concentrating primarily on her television work but also noting achievements in other areas. Appendices offer cast and crew lists, a chronology, and an additional biographical sketch of 10 less familiar actresses who deserve recognition.
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786429003
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 217
Book Description
Most of the bright and talented actresses who made America laugh in the 1950s are off the air today, but their pioneering Hollywood careers irrevocably changed the face of television comedy. These smart and sassy women successfully negotiated the hazards of the male-dominated workplace with class and humor, and the work they did in the 1950s is inventive still by today's standards. Unable to fall back on strong language, shock value, or racial and sexual epithets, the female sitcom stars of the 1950s entertained with pure talent and screen savvy. As they did so, they helped to lay the foundation for the development of television comedy. This book pays tribute to 10 prominent television actresses who played lead roles in popular comedy shows of the 1950s. Each chapter covers the works and personalities of one actress: Lucille Ball (I Love Lucy), Gracie Allen (The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show), Eve Arden (Our Miss Brooks), Spring Byington (December Bride), Joan Davis (I Married Joan), Anne Jeffreys (Topper), Donna Reed (The Donna Reed Show), Ann Sothern (Private Secretary and The Ann Sothern Show), Gale Storm (My Little Margie and The Gale Storm Show: Oh! Susanna), and Betty White (Life with Elizabeth). For each star, a career sketch is provided, concentrating primarily on her television work but also noting achievements in other areas. Appendices offer cast and crew lists, a chronology, and an additional biographical sketch of 10 less familiar actresses who deserve recognition.
Laughing Hysterically
Author: Ed Sikov
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780231079822
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 282
Book Description
Rejecting the notion that the 1950s was a bleak, conformist decade in the US, this study argues that the era's film comedies reflect the period's underappreciated artistic and social rebelliousness.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780231079822
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 282
Book Description
Rejecting the notion that the 1950s was a bleak, conformist decade in the US, this study argues that the era's film comedies reflect the period's underappreciated artistic and social rebelliousness.
The Great Movie Comedians
Author: Leonard Maltin
Publisher: Random House Value Publishing
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 264
Book Description
Publisher: Random House Value Publishing
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 264
Book Description
Buster Keaton
Author: Imogen Sara Smith
Publisher: Gambit Publishing
ISBN: 0967591740
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 283
Book Description
Smith tells of the most dazzling and enigmatic of the silent clowns, a man who began his career in vaudeville as one-third of the Three Keatons at age four only to fall from grace with shattering swiftness in the early 1930s before eventually making a comeback on television in the 1950s.
Publisher: Gambit Publishing
ISBN: 0967591740
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 283
Book Description
Smith tells of the most dazzling and enigmatic of the silent clowns, a man who began his career in vaudeville as one-third of the Three Keatons at age four only to fall from grace with shattering swiftness in the early 1930s before eventually making a comeback on television in the 1950s.
Classic Movie Comedians
Author: Neil Sinyard
Publisher: Smithmark Publishers
ISBN: 9780831714512
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 182
Book Description
Publisher: Smithmark Publishers
ISBN: 9780831714512
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 182
Book Description
Ernie Kovacs & Early TV Comedy
Author: Andrew Horton
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 0292721943
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 141
Book Description
Among the pioneers of television, Ernie Kovacs was one of the most original and imaginative comedians. His zany, irreverent, and surprising humor not only entertained audiences throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, but also inspired a host of later comedies and comedians, including Monty Python, David Letterman, much of Saturday Night Live, Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, Captain Kangaroo, and even Sesame Street. Kovacs created laughter through wildly creative comic jokes, playful characterizations, hilarious insights, and wacky experiments. “Nothing in moderation,” his motto and epitaph, sums up well Kovacs’s wholehearted approach to comedy and life. In this book, Andrew Horton offers the first sustained look at Ernie Kovacs’s wide-ranging and lasting contributions to the development of TV comedy. He discusses in detail Kovacs’s work in New York, which included The Ernie Kovacs Show (CBS prime time 1952–1953), The Ernie Kovacs Show (NBC daytime variety 1956–1957), Tonight (NBC late-night comedy/variety 1956-1957), and a number of quiz shows. Horton also looks at Kovacs’s work in Los Angeles and in feature film comedy. He vividly describes how Kovacs and his comic co-conspirators created offbeat characters and zany situations that subverted expectations and upended the status quo. Most of all, Horton demonstrates that Kovacs grasped the possibility for creating a fresh genre of comedy through the new medium of television and exploited it to the fullest.
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 0292721943
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 141
Book Description
Among the pioneers of television, Ernie Kovacs was one of the most original and imaginative comedians. His zany, irreverent, and surprising humor not only entertained audiences throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, but also inspired a host of later comedies and comedians, including Monty Python, David Letterman, much of Saturday Night Live, Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, Captain Kangaroo, and even Sesame Street. Kovacs created laughter through wildly creative comic jokes, playful characterizations, hilarious insights, and wacky experiments. “Nothing in moderation,” his motto and epitaph, sums up well Kovacs’s wholehearted approach to comedy and life. In this book, Andrew Horton offers the first sustained look at Ernie Kovacs’s wide-ranging and lasting contributions to the development of TV comedy. He discusses in detail Kovacs’s work in New York, which included The Ernie Kovacs Show (CBS prime time 1952–1953), The Ernie Kovacs Show (NBC daytime variety 1956–1957), Tonight (NBC late-night comedy/variety 1956-1957), and a number of quiz shows. Horton also looks at Kovacs’s work in Los Angeles and in feature film comedy. He vividly describes how Kovacs and his comic co-conspirators created offbeat characters and zany situations that subverted expectations and upended the status quo. Most of all, Horton demonstrates that Kovacs grasped the possibility for creating a fresh genre of comedy through the new medium of television and exploited it to the fullest.
The Golden Age of Sound Comedy
Author: Donald W. McCaffrey
Publisher: South Brunswick [N.J.] : A. S. Barnes
ISBN:
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 216
Book Description
"The Golden Age of Sound Comedy attempts to show the continuation of several comic traditions and the development of new ones in the Thirties."--The introduction.
Publisher: South Brunswick [N.J.] : A. S. Barnes
ISBN:
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 216
Book Description
"The Golden Age of Sound Comedy attempts to show the continuation of several comic traditions and the development of new ones in the Thirties."--The introduction.
Movie Comedians
Author: James L. Neibaur
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 264
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 264
Book Description